Large Fierce Mammal

One hundred and sixty-one years ago today, a light of dark genius was extinguished forever under bizarre circumstances that remain unclear to this day. At approximately 5:00 AM on Sunday, 7 October 1849, at the end of several days of delirium, Edgar Allan Poe regained complete consciousness only long enough to speak his last words – “Lord help my poor soul!”

Accounts report that Poe was on a lecture tour and had left Richmond, Virginia for Philadelphia on 27 September 1849. He was not seen again until he was found semi-conscious in the street outside Ryan’s Saloon on Lombard Street in Baltimore, Maryland on 3 October 1849. Known for his dapper and fastidious style of dress, when carried off the street and into the tavern Poe was wearing cheap, tattered, soiled, ill fitting clothes that were clearly not his own. The tavern owner, Joseph W. Walker, was able to learn his identity and the name of an acquaintance, Dr. Joseph E. Snodgrass, resulting in this communication:

Baltimore City, Oct. 3, 1849
Dear Sir,

There is a gentleman, rather the worse for wear, at Ryan’s 4th ward polls, who goes under the cognomen of Edgar A. Poe, and who appears in great distress, & he says he is acquainted with you, he is in need of immediate assistance.

Yours, in haste,
JOS. W. WALKER
To Dr. J.E. Snodgrass

On 30 January 1847, Poe’s wife, Virginia, had died after a period of illness. According to the Poe Museum, this event marked the start of a downward spiral:

“After his wife’s death, Poe perhaps yielded more often to a weakness for drink, which had beset him at intervals since early manhood. He was unable to take even a little alcohol without a change of personality, and any excess was accompanied by physical prostration. Throughout his life those illnesses had interfered with his success as an editor, and had given him a reputation for intemperateness that he scarcely deserved.”

Deserved or not, Dr. Snodgrass and Poe’s uncle, Henry Herring, attributed his state to drunkenness and arranged for his transport to Washington College Hospital. While there, Poe drifted in and out of consciousness, but never regained sufficient lucidity to explain his condition.

On the night of 6 October 1849, mere hours before his death, Poe began repeatedly calling for someone named “Reynolds”. Nobody present knew who Reynolds was, nor has it since come to light that there was any association between Poe and anyone by that name.

When Poe died at the age of 40, no autopsy was performed, but the Baltimore Commissioner of Health, Dr. J.F.C. Handel, certified cause of death as “congestion of the brain”. Poe was buried in the yard of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland.

The mysterious events leading up to his demise have led to theories rivaling those that swirl around the John F. Kennedy assassination, and likewise with arguments and discussions still ongoing. A review performed 147 years after Poe’s death by Dr. R. Michael Benitez, a cardiologist at the university of Maryland Medical Centre, the results of which were originally published in the September 1996 issue of Maryland Medical Journal, offers an interpretation of the known facts supporting the diagnosis that what killed Edgar Allan Poe was an advanced state of rabies.

An article titled Edgar Allan Poe Mystery that was published in 1996 in the website of the University of Maryland Medical Centre, details the results of Dr. Benitez’ work:

“In his analysis, Dr. Benitez examined all of the possible causes for delirium, which include trauma, vascular disorders in the brain, neurological problems such as epilepsy, and infections. Alcohol withdrawal is also a potential cause of tremors and delirium, and Poe was known to have abused alcohol and opiate drugs. However, the medical records indicate that Poe had abstained from alcohol for six months before his death, and there was no evidence of alcohol use when he was admitted.

“‘In addition, it is unusual for patients suffering from alcohol withdrawal to become acutely ill, recover for a brief time, and then worsen and die,’ says Dr. Benitez, who adds that withdrawal from opiates does not produce the same scenario of symptoms as Poe’s illness.

“Dr. Benitez says in the final stages of rabies, it is common for people to have periods of confusion that come and go, along with wide swings in pulse rate and other body functions, such as respiration and temperature. All of that occurred for Poe, according to medical records kept by Dr. John J. Moran who cared for Poe in his final days. In addition, the median length of survival after the onset of serious symptoms is four days, which is exactly the number of days Poe was hospitalized before his death.

“Poe’s doctor also wrote that in the hospital, Poe refused alcohol he was offered and drank water only with great difficulty. Dr. Benitez says that seems to be a symptom of hydrophobia, a fear of water, which is a classic sign of rabies.

“Dr. Benitez theorizes that Poe may have gotten rabies from being bitten by one of his pets. He was known to have cats and other pets. Although there is no account that Poe had been bitten by an animal, it is interesting that in all the cases of human rabies in the United States from 1977 to 1994, people remembered being bitten in only 27 percent of those cases. In addition, people can have the infection for up to a year without major symptoms.

“Nevermore!”

“The idea to analyze Poe’s death came from Philip A. Mackowiak, M.D., professor of medicine and vice-chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

“‘Poe’s death is one of the most mysterious deaths in literary history, and it provided us with an interesting case in which to discuss many principles of medicine,’ says Dr. Mackowiak, who runs the weekly Clinical Pathologic Conference at the medical center.

“Dr. Mackowiak agrees with Dr. Benitez that rabies was the most likely cause of Poe’s death, based on the available evidence. He adds, though, that after Poe’s death, his doctor went on the lecture circuit and gave varying accounts of the writer’s final days. ‘The account on which Dr. Benitez based his findings was more consistent with rabies than with anything else, but the definitive cause of Poe’s death will likely remain a mystery,’ says Dr. Mackowiak.“